ARE BILL'S BOYS BACK?... Veteran coach and first-year St. George's boss Bill Disbrow led his Saints to a one-point win Saturday over the Vancouver College Fighting Irish to win the Vancouver Indy League title. (PNG photo)

Everybody wants to be especially proficient at it with the playoffs now underway, and the head coach of the team to hold No. 1 for much of the early part of the campaign, feels that his team is finally back to getting stops.

“We have tried to strive for playing the best basketball at the right time, and right now, we’re playing our best basketball,” said Randy Coutts, head coach of the No. 8-ranked Kitsilano Blue Demons, after his team held rival Sir Winston Churchill to just 21 first-half points en route to an 82-66 victory in the Vancouver City championship final on Saturday night.

Kits led 43-21 at the break, and were led by the 31 points of forward Luka Zaharijevic. Guard Justin Sze added another 16 for the winners. Mindy Minhas, the Grade 11 standout with the rival Bulldogs, was held to seven at the half, but exploded with 18 in the second to finish with 25. Zaharijevic, who went 9-of-10 from the free throw line, was picked tournament MVP.

ST. GEORGE’S WINS INDY LEAGUE TITLE

Vancouver’s St. George’s Saints are going to be the most playoff-tested team in the field when the Lower Mainland senior boys Triple A championships begin next week.

Tylon Barker’s 19 point-10 rebound double-double performance, highlighted by a thunderous dunk in the late stages, helped fuel B.C.’s No. 5-ranked Triple A team to a 78-77 win over the honourable-mention Vancouver College Fighting Irish in a sudden-elimination tiebreaker to decide the Vancouver Independent League championship, and the two-team league’s lone rep at the Lower Mainland tournament.

“We have sure been put under a lot of pressure,” said Saints’ first-year head coach Bill Disbrow, the former Vancouver College associate head coach, eluding to the fact that St. George’s dropped a 75-74 decision to the Irish in the opening game of the two-game series on Jan. 16, forcing them to rally with a 78-65 decision this past Tuesday, just to force Saturday’s winner-take-all test. “Nerves were a big factor for us, but we’re pretty confident that when we run our stuff that we can be a good team.”

Disbrow applauded the defensive effort turned in by senior Will Chamberlain, who took on the task of guarding the Irish’s top offensive threat, Gogy Kumanan, who finished with 11 points. Chamberlain shot 8-of-9 from the field and scored 15 points, while Deklan Chung had 17 points and Drew Urquhart 12 points and nine rebounds.

Elijah Campbell-Axson led the Irish with 19 points, while Christian Mair had 15 and Ruslan Tyab 13.

The victory was the Saints’ sixth straight and its eighth win its past nine games against B.C. competition since losing 71-55 at Walnut Grove on Dec. 11. Over that span, St. George’s overall record is 14-2.

In the Richmond senior boys championship final played Friday, fourth-seeded R.C Palmer beat second-seeded JN Burnett 91-81 in the title tilt.

In the Fraser Valley, the No. 4 White Rock Christian Academy Warriors and honourable mention Lord Tweedsmuir, both of Surrey, came up with big defensive efforts to win their division titles in advance of today’s zone seeding meeting.

“We’ve talked to our guys constantly about how a big stop always leads to points on the other end,” said WRCA head coach Dale Shury after his Warriors held the No. 3-ranked, host Tamanawis Wildcats to just seven first quarter-points en route to a 68-50 win in the Southwest Division final.

At Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary, the host Panthers got inspired play from its trio of Bradyn Norris, Paarus Sahi and Pavan Lehal to top honour-mention Enver Creek 75-63 in the Central Division final.

No. 1 Yale and No. 2 Walnut Grove were set to meet late Saturday in the Valley’s East Division final, while in the North, it was the No. 10 Pitt Meadows Marauders set to face Coquitlam’s Gleneagle Talons.

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